It is common knowledge that sliding doors, such as those of the patio type, are popular in domestic housing, but they are notoriously vulnerable for failing to provide a secure or burglar-proof type of door. These sliding doors are commonly mounted on a slide track, and there may be one or two sliding panels in the door. It is ordinary and known practice to place a stick or a bar against one of the doors and against a permanent stop, such as the door frame, to prevent the door from sliding along its track. However, with that arrangement, the user must remember to place the stick or bar in its secure position in the path of the door to prevent the sliding of the door, and, the user must also provide some other or additional type of means for preventing the sliding of the adjacent panel, in the installation where two panels slide on the track. One reason why a stick or bar is used to be jammed into the path of the sliding panel, as mentioned above, is that the latch or lock, if any, employed on sliding doors is not sufficiently sturdy to be a good burglar prevention.
The prior art is already aware of some apparatus for securing sliding doors, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,825,290 and 4,073,522 show the certain apparatus for that purpose. The disclosures of those patents differ from the present invention in that the first patent requires at least two bars which are hinged together and are also hinged at the opposite or free ends of the extending pair of bars. Further, in order to open a sliding panel in that arrangement, one must be lifting the hinge bars at the same time that one is pulling on the sliding panel, in order to release the hinge bars and move the panel. Still further, that arrangement requires a very firm center hinge connection in order to avoid having the hinge bars deflect and strike the glass immediately adjacent to the hinge of the pair of hinged bars when the force is applied on the sliding panel to open it. Likewise, the second mentioned U.S. Patent has similar deficiencies, and it only adds a complicated foot type of release for the hinged bar shown in that patent.
The present invention improves upon the prior art, including that mentioned above, in that it provides for a single type of security bar which is hinged at one end and which has a roller at the other end, all for extending between a stationary point and the edge of the sliding panel to preclude sliding movement when the bar is in its lowered or horizontal position.
Still further, the present invention provides an inoperative position which permits the security bar to be placed out of the way so that the panel can open and close to its full positions but without the security bar holding the panels closed once the panel is slid to the closed position.
Still further, the present invention provides a security apparatus which is made of only several parts and which leaves the glass in the sliding door or panels in a safe and secure position without jeopardizing the breakage or cracking of the glass by the impact of the parts of the security mechanism.
Still further, the present invention provides a means for releasing the secure position of the security bar and with that means being controlled from a location adjacent the handle utilized for pulling the sliding panel to the open position. With that arrangement, the user can conveniently pull the panel open and also release the security bar from one position and need not be required to stretch several feet from the door handle to a position of endeavoring to release a security member. The latter comment is also again significant with respect to the aforesaid two patents where the user must perform the two functions at two remote locations and do so simultaneously.
Still another object of this invention and an advantage with respect to the prior art is that the security apparatus of this invention can be readily and easily applied to sliding doors which are already installed, and no specially arranged sliding door or track is required in order for the security apparatus to be installed and utilized.
Other objects and advantages will become apparent upon reading the following description in light of the accompanying drawings.